Key Facts

type of work · Novella (between a novel and a short story in length
and scope)

genre · Symbolism, colonial literature, adventure tale, frame
story, almost a romance in its insistence on heroism and the supernatural
and its preference for the symbolic over the realistic

language · English

time and place written · England, 1898–1899;
inspired by Conrad’s journey to the Congo in 1890

date of first publication · Serialized in Blackwood’s magazine in 1899;
published in 1902 in the volume Youth:
A Narrative; and Two Other Stories

publisher · J. M. Dent & Sons, Ltd.

narrator · There are two narrators: an anonymous passenger on
a pleasure ship, who listens to Marlow’s story, and Marlow himself,
a middle-aged ship’s captain.

point of view · The first narrator speaks in the first-person plural,
on behalf of four other passengers who listen to Marlow’s tale.
Marlow narrates his story in the first person, describing only what
he witnessed and experienced, and providing his own commentary on
the story.

tone · Ambivalent: Marlow is disgusted at the brutality of
the Company and horrified by Kurtz’s degeneration, but he claims that
any thinking man would be tempted into similar behavior.

tense · Past

setting (time) · Latter part of the nineteenth century, probably sometime between 1876 and 1892

setting (place) · Opens on the Thames River outside London, where Marlow
is telling the story that makes up Heart of Darkness. Events of
the story take place in Brussels, at the Company’s offices, and
in the Congo, then a Belgian territory.

protagonist · Marlow

major conflict · Both Marlow and Kurtz confront a conflict between their
images of themselves as “civilized” Europeans and the temptation
to abandon morality completely once they leave the context of European
society.

rising action · The brutality Marlow witnesses in the Company’s employees, the
rumors he hears that Kurtz is a remarkable and humane man, and the
numerous examples of Europeans breaking down mentally or physically
in the environment of Africa.

climax · Marlow’s discovery, upon reaching the Inner Station,
that Kurtz has completely abandoned European morals and norms of behavior

falling action · Marlow’s acceptance of responsibility for Kurtz’s legacy, Marlow’s
encounters with Company officials and Kurtz’s family and friends,
Marlow’s visit to Kurtz’s Intended

themes · The hypocrisy of imperialism, madness as a result of imperialism,
the absurdity of evil